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Muslims flee Central African Republic's capital

At PK12, the last checkpoint at the exit of the town, the Christian crowd cheers as thousands of Muslim residents from Bangui and Mbaiki flee the Central African Republic town of Bangui in a mass exodus using cars, pickups, trucks, lorries and motorcycles, escorted by Chadian troops on Friday, Feb. 7, 2014. Tit-for-tat violence killed more than 1,000 people in Bangui alone in a matter of days in December. An untold number have died in the weeks that followed, with most of the attacks in Bangui targeting Muslims. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

BANGUI, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC | Thousands of Muslims climbed aboard trucks protected by heavily armed Chadian soldiers in a mass exodus Friday from the capital of Central African Republic. Their flight follows months of escalating attacks on anyone perceived as supporting a now-defunct Muslim rebel government blamed for scores of atrocities during its rule of this predominantly Christian country.

In The Hague, Netherlands, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced a preliminary investigation into potential war crimes or crimes against humanity in Central African Republic, saying the crisis has “gone from bad to worse” since September.

Along the streets of Bangui, crowds of Christians gathered to cheer the convoy’s departure for the neighboring country of Chad, which is mostly Muslim. It was an acrid farewell to their Muslim neighbors who had in some cases lived alongside Christians for generations here and have few ties to Chad.

The dangers for those who stayed behind were clear: One man who tumbled from the precariously overloaded trucks was brutally slain, witnesses said.

“He didn’t even have the time to fall — he landed into the hands of the angry mob who then lynched him at the scene,” said Armando Yanguendji, a resident of the Gobongo district who witnessed the horror.

Another truck in the same neighborhood escaped attack from Christian militiamen only when Burundian peacekeepers fired into the air to disperse the crowd trying to assault the convoy, he said. Some trucks broke down even before they could leave Bangui on Friday and had to be abandoned. The passengers jumped aboard other trucks, facing constant jeering, threats and stone-throwing from the spectators.

“The Christians say the Muslims must go back where they came from — that’s why we are going home,” said Osmani Benui as she fled Bangui. “We couldn’t stay here because we had no protection.”

They did have protection as they departed. Chadian special forces went along as well as Seleka rebels in cars, armed with pistols and AK-47s. The convoy of some 500 cars, trucks and motorcycles strained under the weight of people’s belongings.

The aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, said Friday that tens of thousands of Muslims have now fled to Chad and Cameroon. The U.N. refugee agency said that almost 9,000 people have fled to Cameroon in the last 10 days, bringing the number of refugees in Cameroon to 22,000 since current began.